“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” - George W. Bush

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Obama Redirects

Obama unveils new strategy for 'leaner' US military

The US military will become "leaner" as it switches focus to the Asia-Pacific region, US President Barack Obama has announced.

In a rare appearance at the Pentagon, he unveiled a far-reaching defence review under which thousands of troops are expected to be axed.

He said the tide of war was receding, but the US would still retain its military superiority in the world.

The Pentagon faces more than $450bn (£288bn) in cuts in the next 10 years.

"So yes, our military will be leaner," Mr Obama told reporters on Thursday, "but the world must know - the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats."

Joined by Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, President Obama stressed that the defence budget would still grow, but at a slower pace.

He said the US was "turning the page on a decade of war" and faced a "moment of transition".

"Even as our troops continue to fight in Afghanistan, the tide of war is receding," he said.

President Obama added: "At the same time, we have to renew our economic strength here at home, which is the foundation of our strength around the world. That includes putting our fiscal house in order."

The president said the new strategy would end "long-term, nation-building with large military footprints", with the Pentagon instead pursuing a national security strategy based on "smaller conventional ground forces".

Mr Panetta said the review would make the US military "more agile, more flexible, ready to deploy quickly".

Mr Obama has been closely involved with shaping the blueprint, meeting high-ranking defence officials six times since September.

Maybe we ought to start looking south - Comments from the AT article - folks don't seem too happy -JohnK144 Today 08:45 AMAnd if you could get an accurate read on obama's attitude about this threat, it would probably go about like this, "Well, I probably wasn't gonna win those southern states anyway."

crowan1900 Today 08:49 AMThis is insane. If what this article purports is true, and Obama does nothing to counter the threat, then he is not merely incompetent. He is willfully blind and perhaps even complicit. Perhaps Obama wants to destroy America in form AND substance. Can he really hate this country that much?

txreader Today 09:04 AMWhat?!? Why have I not heard of this? If this is true, we should immediately take Iran out. It's completely unacceptable to have those nut jobs within striking distance of our cities. Why would this not be a major national story?

PamL Today 09:17 AMI will be respectfully pleased to read how all Ron Paul supporters would view this, and any explanations posted would be perused with great interest.

Nuclear weapons based in another country cease being for defense, and should be taken very seriously. But somehow I doubt if this administration will, until one part of the nation will end up uninhabitable for a hundred years.

Dougral Today 09:51 AMThe US should give Venezuela one warning that the bases are unacceptable and will not be allowed to exist. Then sometime later we destroy them. No negotiation, no UN Security Council drama, just BOOM!

Fearless Bear Today 09:54 AMDiplomatic precedent on this is not limited to the warnings issued from the White House during the Cuban missile crisis. The government of the United States announced its special interest in keeping the Western Hemispheres free of foreign (non Hemispheric) control way back in 1830 (Monroe doctrine), and variations on that theme have been reiterated in virtually every generation since that time. The situation is ready made for the President to score points in the election season by taking a firm stance, and I suspect he will by this Summer, since looking tough is what you do if you wish to fool enough of the people to get reelected.

Harod 59 minutes agoI think you have to understand the Administrations mentality, this is just a good old fashioned Sputnik moment to shake us out of our American capitalist bourgeois complacency and the Iranians are actually doing us some kind of big favor. Think of all the big government advances that will come out of the Iranian nuclear threat.

The middle east has typically dominated oil productions with countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. A country like Israel is typically at the mercy of market prices as well as local political tensions in regards to its energy security. Israel is a net importer of oil with most of its fuel imported from foreign sources with most Israeli news indicating a shifting focus of alternative energy technologies.

CBN has reported from BEIT SHEMESH in Israel that potentially large deposits of shale oil have been discovered. While they are not first country to have large shale oil deposits such as the United States, for its own energy security it could be a boon.

Although environmental tests and methods need to be evalauted to safely extract the oil, it is estimated that at one location there is approximately 40 billion barrels worth, with a potential of 250 billion barrels in Israel.

The military budget should be cut. With 100 billion dollar programs doubling in price before the first unit is produced you know something is wrong.

An article was referenced the other day stating that the number of generals and admirals is being cut.

The army and marines are planned to be cut back.

The military budget will be cut by $500 billion to $1 trillion over ten years. The yearly reduction will be less than the overruns on the F-35 or the F-22.

These are all good things.

We should also reduce our footprint around the world especially in Europe. The new emphasis on the Pacific is probably a good thing.

We are getting out of Iraq. Good. It was a war of choice based on faulty information. Our national interests did not lie there.

We are still in Afghanistan. We shouldn't be. We should have gotten out after we defeated the Taliban and drove bin Laden out. Even if you argue for a longer stay, we should have gotten out when bin Laden was taken out. He was our reason for going in. We no longer have any national interests there.

We should never have attacked Libya. We have no national interests there.

For those who propose forcing Iran to give up their nuclear ambitions, the question to ask is what would you have us do? For those that say "all options are open" that merely translates to "I don't know but we have to do something."

We are currently imposing sanctions. We are threatening to impose embargoes. What more would you have us do? Invade? Bomb? Nuke? It's easy to say we have to do something. What would you have us do?

It's also easy to call those that recognize reality cowards. What are you proposing we 'do'?

All that being said, if the stories about Iran putting in misslie installations in Venezuela are true, it has to be taken seriously. It is not something that has to be addressed immediately but it will have to be addressed eventually.

The difference, US national interests 'would' be involved if and when Iran develops the bomb.

I think, against the current, that we left Iraq too soon. Now, I fear, we get to watch it devolve into civil war again.

Those pushing for the war in Iraq have been using that argument since the whole thing went bad. Anyone could see that there would be sectarian conflict when we pulled out. To assume the same thing wouldn't have happened if we stuck around for a while is naive.

The Volt has a T-shaped, 400-pound (181-kilogram) battery pack that can power the car for about 35 miles (56 kilometers). After that, a small gasoline generator kicks in to run the electric motor.

The larger trailer mounted second motor needed to drive the auxiliary battery cooling system, along with the related pumps, radiator, fuel tanks and, in some proposals a supplemental battery pack deemed a desirable option to boost the Volts anemic range, has been delayed due to unexplained problems.

The company now sends out a team to drain the batteries after being notified of a crash by GM's OnStar safety system.

I kid you not.

They really do that, if you can believe AP. Which is arguable.

Another unnamed spokesperson for GM said proudly that the battery draining team program was just another part of the company's ongoing effort to fight the unemployment problem that plagues the nation, as well as demonstrating GM's commitment to customer service.

We are currently imposing sanctions. We are threatening to impose embargoes. What more would you have us do? Invade? Bomb? Nuke? It's easy to say we have to do something. What would you have us do?

It's also easy to call those that recognize reality cowards. What are you proposing we 'do'?

We could: Impose a real set of sanctions without hugh loopholes.

If you do business with Iran, then you cannot do any business with the USA.

Expand the Strategic Oil Reserve by 100%

Just direct tax credits to all businesses that put up solar fields on businesses with 2000 sq feet of usable root space that currently USE electricity from the grid.

Provide small loans (up tp $30k) to businesses that have credit scores of 740 or above. (just like Title One funding for home improvement for those with credit scores 660 or above but with out the racial reverse quotas)

Fast Track the Keystone Project as well as create an energy corridor from texas to the CA border.

Create an imported energy tax on oil that requires a MINIMUM PRICE of 60 dollars a barrel. IF the price goes below the difference is collected as a tax.

Create an American 1st energy choice program to give consumers the choice of selecting American energy products, labeled as such.

Cut off all AID to the Lebanese, Palestinians, UNRWA and USaid to the Palestinians.

Change the status of the PPK and unlist them as a terror group, after all, If the taliban, Hamas and the Moslem Brotherhood are all considered "recognizable" then way should the Kurds be treated to a different standard.

Do anything and everything to wean off of imported oil.

Raise the price of food to OPEC members to the same cost of products of goods ratios that they charge for oil.

Honda being sued in small claims court by woman they ignored over hybrid gas-electric mileage claim

This is novel. A woman who is upset with Honda over lack of promised gas mileage on her HondaCivic Hybrid. It seems as the battery aged, the mileage went from the EPA sanctioned 51mpg highway sticker value to about 30. Honda ignored her complaint, and now she has a real chance of winning a landmark case in small claims court and Honda is taking a PR hit as the issue goes viral. A video report follows below.

WiO, allen, or whomever for that matter - can you answer a question for me please?

When Bibi says "Israel must be a Jewish State" what does that mean? For example, what institutional functions are required for Israel to be considered Jewish? Do you have to be Jewish to be an Israeli citizen? I am honestly curious as to what would be involved in making Israel a Jewish State and keeping it a Jewish State.

Those magic batteries, always have been the fly, in that electric car ointment.

Always was going to be.

They should have called Tom Swift Jr., he had it figured out, back in 1962.

An atomic-powered car that travels on land, water, and through the air -- Tom Swift Jr.'s latest invention -- is an extraordinary achievement.

But even its young inventor could not anticipate what a dramatic role the Triphibian Atomicar would play in a technical aid mission which takes Tom and his top-flight engineers to the untamed Asian land of Kabulistan, to help the new republic develop its natural resources

If you do business with Iran, then you cannot do any business with the USA.

Expand the Strategic Oil Reserve by 100%

Just direct tax credits to all businesses that put up solar fields on businesses with 2000 sq feet of usable root space that currently USE electricity from the grid.

Provide small loans (up tp $30k) to businesses that have credit scores of 740 or above. (just like Title One funding for home improvement for those with credit scores 660 or above but with out the racial reverse quotas)

Fast Track the Keystone Project as well as create an energy corridor from texas to the CA border.

Create an imported energy tax on oil that requires a MINIMUM PRICE of 60 dollars a barrel. IF the price goes below the difference is collected as a tax.

Create an American 1st energy choice program to give consumers the choice of selecting American energy products, labeled as such.

Cut off all AID to the Lebanese, Palestinians, UNRWA and USaid to the Palestinians.

Change the status of the PPK and unlist them as a terror group, after all, If the taliban, Hamas and the Moslem Brotherhood are all considered "recognizable" then way should the Kurds be treated to a different standard.

Do anything and everything to wean off of imported oil.

Raise the price of food to OPEC members to the same cost of products of goods ratios that they charge for oil.

How is that for a short list....

And that would prevent Iran from getting the bomb, the crux of the argument?

With the F-35 in its inventory, Japan will be able to remain an important part in the large puzzle that the United States is carefully putting together, piece by piece, to sustain and increase its strategic influence in the region. This includes the delivery of important military hardware to key partners, such as the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and Australia, forming a ring of close US allies along the southern and eastern borders of China’s regional sphere of influence.

In an article for Forbes, Loren Thompson writes that the U.S. strikes deals with partners such as Saudi Arabia to meet the U.S.’s “security needs indigenously rather than relying on an overstretched U.S. military.” He says the U.S. benefits from foreign sales since they often stimulate domestic economic activity.

How in Africa, we have leveraged some SF trainers and weapons into a military intervention by Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and the Africa Union in support of the local government in battling the Shabab Islamoids, in Somalia

"In August, during the run-up to the Ames straw poll, some Iowans were baffled to turn on their TVs and see a commercial that featured shots of ruddy-cheeked farm families, an astronaut on the moon and an ear of hot buttered corn. It urged viewers to cast write-in votes for Rick Perry by spelling his name with an “a” — “for America.” A voice-over at the end announced that the commercial had been paid for by an organization called Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, which is the name of Colbert’s super PAC, an entity that, like any other super PAC, is entitled to raise and spend unlimited amounts of soft money in support of candidates as long as it doesn’t “coordinate” with them, whatever that means. Of such super-PAC efforts, Colbert said, “This is 100 percent legal and at least 10 percent ethical.”

Just as baffling as the Iowa corn ads — at least to the uninitiated — were some commercials Colbert produced taking the side of the owners during the recent N.B.A. lockout. These were also sponsored by Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, but they were “made possible,” according to the voice-over, by Colbert Super PAC SHH Institute. Super PAC SHH (as in “hush”) is Colbert’s 501(c)(4). He has one of those too — an organization that can accept unlimited amounts of money from corporations without disclosing their names and can then give that money to a regular PAC, which would otherwise be required to report corporate donations. “What’s the difference between that and money laundering?” Colbert said to me delightedly.

In the case of Colbert’s N.B.A. ads, the secret sugar daddy might, or might not, have been Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, who has appeared on the show and whom the ads call a “hero.” We’ll never know, and that of course is the point. Referring to the Supreme Court ruling that money is speech, and therefore corporations can contribute large sums to political campaigns, Colbert said, “Citizens United said that transparency would be the disinfectant, but (c)(4)’s are warm, wet, moist incubators. There is no disinfectant.”

Since Roman interference in Judah during the 1st Century, BCE, Jews (whether by ethnicity or religious practice) have had no security in the world. Following our dispersion by the Romans beginning in the 1st Century, CE, we have been driven from every European realm, at least once, always following mass murder, rape, kidnapping, desecration, extortion, and theft.

In fairness, there was a brief period during the Dark Ages when Jews and their Western European, Arianized Christian neighbors (sundry Germanic tribes converted to Christianity by Arian bishops) lived in peace and prosperity, with intermarriage being common and acceptable. If you know anything about Arianism, the reason for amity is immediately apparent.

With the ultimate military/political dominance of the Roman Catholic proselytized Franks (the Germanic tribe, named after a weapon) the condition of the Jews inexorably disintegrated. Again, if you know anything about "Trinitarianism, the hostility toward Judaism is obvious.

Then when the commercial aircraft sales are factored into the equation of mutual defense and commercial alliances ...

17 Nov 2001Nusa Dua. Lion Air has agreed to buy 230 Boeing 737 aircraft with a list price of $21.7 billion, the White House said on Thursday, touting the sale as the US firm’s biggest-ever commercial order.

The deal was announced soon after US President Barack Obama touched down in Bali for the East Asia summit on the final leg of a regional tour partly aimed at drumming up sales for US products at a time of slow growth back home.

Officials said the Lion Air order was for 201 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and 29 Next Generation 737 ER planes.

25 Oct 2011Nusa Dua, Bali - Indonesia is holding talks with the US on the possibility of it buying F-16 fighter jet planes, Indonesian Ambassador to the US Dino Patti Djalal said here on Monday.

Dino made the statement after attending a meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta earlier in the day on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministerial Meeting in Nusa Dua.

"During the 45-minute meeting between President Yudhoyono and Secretary Panetta, the possibility was discussed for Indonesia to buy F-16 aircraft. However, the details such as price and other technical matters need to be further discussed," Dino said.

Speaking during a visit to Turkey late Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris hopes the oil sanctions will be signed-off by European foreign ministers by the end of January. He believes solutions will be found for EU countries like Greece and Italy that depend heavily on Iranian oil.

The possible sanctions underscore a toughening approach by the West to get Iran to cooperate on its nuclear program. Western nations believe Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, while Tehran insists its activities are for peaceful purposes.

But will an oil embargo work? Not as far as oil analyst Paul Stevens of London-based Chatham House is concerned. "If you look at history, oil embargoes have never, ever worked and never, ever been effective…so it's not going to work," he said. "It's just going to cause a great deal of disruption."

Stevens says EU countries that depend on Iranian oil can find new suppliers - like the Gulf states. But Iran may also find new buyers for its oil in Asia....More effective, Stevens and other analysts say, are tougher financial sanctions. Sanctions already in place have already taken a toll on Iran. The EU is considering sanctions against Iran's central bank, but member nations are reportedly still divided on the measure.

Then there are the military’s health benefits for retirees and their families. While almost every other employer has adjusted their coverage to better-manage cost increases, the military hasn’t raised its hugely subsidized health premiums in almost seven years.

Such moves suggest a cosseted culture, only too well aware that its unique status puts it beyond normal constraints. But the more recent focus on tightening the Pentagon’s belt is already paying dividends. This week, Lockheed Martin announced that it will pay a larger share of the cost overruns on the radar-evading Joint Strike Fighter, the costliest arms purchase in history.

The best response to Panetta’s apocalyptic predictions comes from Panetta himself.

In 1992, when Panetta was a House member on a budget-cutting committee, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney complained to him that cuts to the Pentagon’s budget “would end up destroying the finest military force this nation has ever fielded.’’

Panetta replied, “I think the most dangerous threat to our national security right now is debt, very heavy debt.’’ Panetta said he had no problem with America policing the world. “My problem is how the hell are we going to pay for it.’’Now that the roles are reversed, today’s Congress should tell him the very same thing.

Japan will consider cutbacks in its Iranian oil purchases to secure a waiver from new U.S. sanctions signed into law on New Year's Eve by President Barack Obama, a government source said.

Between them, China, the EU and Japan buy about half of Iran's exports of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day.

International sanctions that for years had little effect are for the first time having a real impact on day-to-day life in Iran, where the rial currency has tumbled and people have rushed to convert savings into dollars.

Most oil traders still expect Iran will be able to find buyers for its crude, but it will have to offer steeper discounts that will cut the hard currency revenue it needs to import food and other basic supplies for its 74 million people.

Iran has put on a brave face. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday Iran would "weather the storm."

"Iran, with divine assistance, has always been ready to counter such hostile actions and we are not concerned at all about the sanctions," he told a news conference.

The economic hardship comes just two months before a parliamentary election, the country's first since a disputed presidential vote in 2009 led to massive public demonstrations across the country.

The authorities put those protests down by force, but since then the Arab Spring has revealed the vulnerability of authoritarian governments in the region to public anger driven by economic hardship.

The administration is in the final stages of deciding specific cuts in the 2013 budget, which Obama will submit to Congress next month. The strategy to be announced by Panetta and Dempsey is meant to accommodate about $489 billion in defense cuts over the coming 10 years, as called for in a budget deal with Congress last summer.

...

A prominent theme of the Pentagon's new strategy is what Panetta has called a renewed commitment to security in the Asia-Pacific region.

The administration is not anticipating military conflict in Asia, but Panetta believes the U.S. got so bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11 that it missed chances to improve its strategic position in other regions.

Jon Huntsman’s headquarters also has a dozen or so volunteers working eagerly and busily. New Hampshire press secretary Tim Miller points out that the candidate’s biggest event was Tuesday night in Peterborough, with 350 people attending on Iowa caucus night.

Peterborough has traditionally been sympathetic to liberal Republicans, and interviews with people attending Huntsman events indicate that some regard him as—how to put this?—the least distasteful Republican candidate. That, even though his economic platform is, as he points out, solidly conservative.

His schedule for the next few days come in towns with similar traditions in the Seacoast, Connecticut River valley and the North Country. “We’re going to outwork anyone else,” says Miller, and indeed Huntsman has spent more time in the state than anyone else, and very little time in any other state.

Santorum knew he was walking into a ambush when one student asked him why he didn’t support gay marriage, and he joked that he was “shocked” to be getting such a question before a college audience. He went on to explain that since the current law doesn’t allow gay marriage, the onus was on those who are proposing to change the law to explain why it should be legalized, rather than on him to explain why he opposed it.

...

Whether or not this was the best use of his time from a campaign strategy perspective, you have to give him credit. His social conservative views are genuine and passionately held.

It’s not everyday that a surging Republican presidential candidate would declare before a broad college audience, “I don’t believe life begins at conception, I know life begins at conception” and engage a hostile crowd on hot-button social issues. But he did so, and gave students far more time to voice their disagreements with him, and actually respond, than any other politician in his position would have.

Heck with Rumsfeld, you can go back to Neil McElroy, Sec Def for Ike, to find implementation of the small footprint doctrine, 1957.

McElroy did not place economy above preparedness. A strong supporter of military assistance, he argued effectively for continued congressional and public support for the program. "Military Assistance," he said, "is to the defense of our Country as fire prevention is to fire fighting. You can have the best, most modern sprinkling system in your factory but it will be useless if you don't take steps to prevent fires from getting out of control before they reach your plant."

Authorities ordered the immediate shutdown of Afghanistan operations of their company, the international security consulting firm GardaWorld, and are questioning other company employees.

In the latest violence, attackers gunned down a local government official on his way to a mosque in southern Afghanistan in another hit on a government figure. Hundreds of Afghan government officials have been killed in recent years as the Taliban pursue a sweeping assassination campaign seeking to weaken confidence Karzai's administration and discourage people from joining the government.

Haji Fazel Mohammad was shot on his way to evening prayers Wednesday in the volatile district of Sangin in Helmand province, the governor's office said. The attackers escaped.

And Romney is banking that voters dissatisfied with Obama will ultimately back him as the person most capable of defeating the incumbent president.

Sen. John McCain, a former adversary of Romney's, endorsed him in New Hampshire Wednesday, calling Romney the "best candidate we can nominate." But it was McCain who most consistently four years ago leveled the same "flip-flopper" charges against Romney that Democrats are repeating now, Gingrich's allies were quick to note.

A super political action committee supporting Gingrich wasted little time in reminding voters of a 2008 McCain ad called "A Tale of Two Mitts," which shows Romney shifting stances on abortion, gun control and his claim to the conservative label.

Oceanographers exploring some of the most remote deep-sea hot springs ever found have discovered what they say is a "riot of life" in a distinct biological zone that no one knew existed. They said the exploration, which occurred more than a mile down in the ocean just north of Antarctica, uncovered the most strikingly unique assemblage of life-forms found in decades, including thousands upon thousands of a species of crab never seen before, as well as new barnacle, anemone, snail and starfish species.

...

Geologists discovered the first hydrothermal vents in the Pacific in 1977, near the Galapagos Islands. So unprepared were they to find life in such a hostile place that their team included no biologists, and they packed few biological supplies.

...

The Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, has only recently been a focus of deep-sea exploration. It's particularly difficult to reach, and its waters are treacherous, with storm swells regularly hitting 50 feet.

Being done. The escalation continues. Iran itself has admitted the sanctions are hurting them. Independent reporting confirms this. If the US takes it to the next step, embargo, it will be a major escalation in the economic war.

If you do business with Iran, then you cannot do any business with the USA.

Sounds good. What do you do about China?

Expand the Strategic Oil Reserve by 100%

Super so now you have a couple months of oil reserve.

Just direct tax credits to all businesses that put up solar fields on businesses with 2000 sq feet of usable root space that currently USE electricity from the grid.

I have no idea what affect this would have but I would have to believe many people would proffer other ideas using our tax dollars that would provide a more cost effective solution to the imported oil issue. (However, I can see where you would like this idea. It fits right in with your post-apocalyptic vision.)

Provide small loans (up tp $30k) to businesses that have credit scores of 740 or above. (just like Title One funding for home improvement for those with credit scores 660 or above but with out the racial reverse quotas)

I assume this goes with the tic point above otherwise I don't get the significance.

Fast Track the Keystone Project as well as create an energy corridor from texas to the CA border.

Most people here agree with this proposal (I do albeit with a caveat requiring reasonable environmental safeguards.) However, since oil is fungible, all I see it doing is possibly bring the world price of spot crude down a little, for how long is debatable given other factors at work.

Create an imported energy tax on oil that requires a MINIMUM PRICE of 60 dollars a barrel. IF the price goes below the difference is collected as a tax.

A tax on oil? It's hardly a new idea. Many have suggested it before. However, even those who have pressed for it before might hesitate in implementing it while the economy is in the current downturn. Add to that the $60 trigger, one wonders how soon it will be before we see that again. Obviously its effect right now would be nil. That's not to mention the complexity, additional regulations, and bureaucracy added to the tax collection process you add by creating a variable tax rather than a fixed amount.

Create an American 1st energy choice program to give consumers the choice of selecting American energy products, labeled as such.

A great idea. How effective? Questionable.

Cut off all AID to the Lebanese, Palestinians, UNRWA and USaid to the Palestinians.

Even if we did it, it would have little effect on Iran. They are already slashing funding to these groups (if one can believe the news reports) because of the effects of the current sanctions.

Change the status of the PPK and unlist them as a terror group, after all, If the taliban, Hamas and the Moslem Brotherhood are all considered "recognizable" then way should the Kurds be treated to a different standard.

Riigght. That worked out well for us with the Mujahadin. Arm them up, turn them loose, and worry about picking up the pieces later. Besides the PPK would take the guns and turn them on their primary targets, the Turks first and eventually the Iraqis. I'm sure the Turks would appreciate us arming the PPK.

If your heritage is non-African, you are part Neanderthal, according to a new study in the July issue of Molecular Biology and Evolution. Discovery News has been reporting on human/Neanderthal interbreeding for some time now, so this latest research confirms earlier findings.

...

"There is little doubt that this haplotype is present because of mating with our ancestors and Neanderthals," said Nick Patterson of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. Patterson did not participate in the latest research.

...

The modern human/Neanderthal combo likely benefitted our species, enabling it to survive in harsh, cold regions that Neanderthals previously had adapted to.

Raise the price of food to OPEC members to the same cost of products of goods ratios that they charge for oil.

So bizarre I have never thought about it. Forgetting any legal trade issues the WTO might come up with, one has to question how effective it would be. I'm not sure how much food the OPEC countries import from us so I’m unclear on that point . However, first, it assumes you can control prices, specifically the price of oil, a commodity whose price is driven by geopolitical and speculative factors as much as by the price set by OPEC. Second, you would have the same loophole problems you complain about with other sanctions. Wheat, Corn, Rice, they are all commodities. Third, you ignore the fact that embargos go both ways. We saw what happened with the oil embargo in the 80's. Fourth, I am not sure how it would affect the American farmer. Prices would go up but quantity of sales would go down. And if there is a negative you don't want to be messing with farmers. Fifth, it would be a political disaster for the US, using food as a weapon. And last, the chances of this ever happening? NIL.

How's that for a short list?

About like I thought. You, like the rest of us, haven't a clue how to stop the Iranians other than what we are doing right now.

You, like the rest of us, haven't a clue how to stop the Iranians other than what we are doing right now.

Which is basically nothing.

We need to send Obama over there for a powwow and impress upon them that we are beginning to unilaterally disarm, we mean them and will be able to do them, no harm, and can't they please be nice now, and at least clean up their language.

It has been said of America, “Ours is a government of laws, not of men”. The same is all too true of Israel, except that our laws were established at least 3500 years ago and to a considerable degree the Founders (Think Mayflower Compact) borrowed extensively from them.

Even in today’s liberal America, a devote Jew cannot live as a devote Jew. To try would doubtless leave him impoverished and/or incarcerated among other things. This is why 75% of American Jews are not religious (or spiritual for that matter) in any meaningfully recognizable way. It is also why they will be gone in another two generations – casualties of thorough assimilation. That ¼ of a more orthodox persuasion will either leave the US for Israel or will continue to attempt self-ghettoization in exclusive aberrant enclaves (not unlike their kith and kin in Israel).

Only Israel offers a place of safety and contentment to serious Jews. It also must offer the same to “gar”, i.e. strangers. These may be righteous gentiles, passers-by, or Arabs, Bedouins, or Druze. All that is required is the willingness to live in peace. Indeed, Ash, were you conversant in Biblical Hebrew, you would find that respect for the “gar” is one of Judaism’s most important laws. Moreover, the Prophets taught that the violation of this commandment was the cause of much woe.

Ash, please understand: A gar is not an invader, criminal, or spy. The gar has an obligation: He must agree to live beside his Jewish neighbors in peace, i.e. he must abide by our laws as those pertain to him.

Well, let’s face it: According to EB standards the Chief Petty Officer is a “dick”, awarded one of his Silver Stars for murdering Pat Tillman, Ron Paul rumor has it. Besides, his heroics, like saving countless Army (Note: Army – like Marine is capitalized) dead wood by making a shot from 2,100 yards was just a waste of time and ammunition.

Even now, Paul continues to accept contributions from Holocaust-deniers, from those who blame the Jews for everything and from other bigots, thus lending some degree of legitimacy to their hateful views.

When Nazi anti-Semitism began to achieve mainstream legitimacy in Germany and Austria in the 1930s, it was not because Hitler, Goebbels and Goering were espousing it. Their repulsive views had been known for years.

It was because non-Nazis – especially prominent academics, politicians and artists – were refusing to condemn anti-Semitism and those who espoused it.

I hold a deeply held view of Ron Paul as an honorable, genuine and trustworthy American statesman. In fact, I cannot really think of anyone else in the tepid cesspool of American politics today whom I could even remotely categorize as a statesman as opposed to a run of the mill politician (or ideologue as Mr. Lucas puts it).

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In case you have been asleep under a rock for the last few months let me fill you in. The elite in this country that control all forms of mainstream communication in the United States as well as both fake political parties are having a panic attack in response to Ron Paul’s surging popularity. There is a simple reason for this. On the important issues, the issues that affect your freedom and economic future he does not tow the party line of TPTB.

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Let me fill you in on a little pattern that I have noticed. In American politics you are allowed to criticize pretty much anything except the Federal Reserve system. This is the third rail of American politics. Why? Because this is by far and away the most important issue on planet earth. Republicans will run around yelling about cutting back on government and preserving “freedom” but they NEVER EVER attack the Federal Reserve.

Without much media attention, thousands of American troops are being deployed to Israel, and Iranian officials believe that this is the latest and most blatant warning that the US will soon be attacking Tehran.

Tensions between nations have been high in recent months and have only worsened in the weeks since early December when Iran hijacked and recovered an American drone aircraft. Many have speculated that a back-and-forth between the two countries will soon escalate Iran and the US into an all-out war, and that event might occur sooner than thought.

Under the Austere Challenge 12 drill scheduled for an undisclosed time during the next few weeks, the Israeli military will together with America host the largest-ever joint missile drill by the two countries. Following the installation of American troops near Iran’s neighboring Strait of Hormuz and the reinforcing of nearby nations with US weapons, Tehran authorities are considering this not a test but the start of something much bigger.

In the testing, America's Theater High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile system will be operating alongside its ship-based Aegis system and Israel's own program to work with Arrow, Patriot and Iron Drone missiles.

Israeli military officials say that the testing was planned before recent episodes involving the US and Iran. Of concern, however, is how the drill will require the deployment of thousands of American troops into Israel. The Jerusalem Post quotes US Commander Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc as saying the drill is not just an “exercise” but also a “deployment” that will involve “several thousand American soldiers” heading to Israel. Additionally, new command posts will be established by American forces in Israel and that country’s own IDF army will begin working from a base in Germany.

In September, the US European Command established a radar system in Israel.

With America previously equipping Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with weaponry to wreck any chance of an Iranian nuclear weapon program from close by, the US will now have added forces on the ready in Israel and Germany under what Tehran fears is a guise being merely perpetrated as a test-run. RT reported last week that the US is equipping Saudi Arabia with nearly $30 billion F-15 war planes, a deal that comes shortly after Washington worked out a contract with Dubai to give the UAE advanced “bunker buster” bombs that could decimate underground nuclear operations in neighboring Iran.

Since the US surveillance mission over Iran that left overseas intelligence with a captured American drone aircraft, tensions have only escalated between the two nations. After Iran threatened to close down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial path for the nation’s oil trade, the US dispatched 15,000 marines into the area.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.